“There is a
class both of pictorial and of sculptured works which
commend themselves only to the few; there is
another class that interests the multitude as well as the
few, because from its nature all can understand it:
to this, in sculpture, belongs Mr. Durham's group
of 'Paul and Virginia;' it is the parting scene,
which may be told in a few brief words, and they
are necessary to comprehend the sculptor's intention.
Paul had been excluded from the house of Virginia's
mother, Madame de la Tour, for several days; he
knew not the reason, though he had certain
misgivings from a few words accidentally let fall by the
priest; . . .
No one can look at these two figures without at
once comprehending their meaning, though the
association with the characters of the charming little
tale may not be so immediately recognisable: and
hence the appeal they directly make to the com-
monest understanding..” [full commentary below]

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust Digital Library and the University of Michigan and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one..

Commentary by the Art-Journal

The limits within which sculpture of every kind, and
especially of ideal works, is from its very nature
necessarily restricted, must often render the choice
of a fitting subject no easy task to the modern artist,
desirous of avoiding the long catalogue of heathen
divinities and fabulous heroes and heroines of
antiquity. The graces, moreover, and the moral virtues
have been so frequently personified in polished
marble, that all hope of finding any novelty in such
matters has long since passed away. One has only
to glance at the sculpture-room in the Academy each
year it is opened, to see the narrow range to which
the art is confined; more because artists are
unwilling to travel out of the beaten path, than that a wider
field is not legitimately placed before them. As
with painting so also with sculpture, though in a
much modified degree, the pages of literature—of the
historian, the novelist, and the poet—offer an ample
supply to whomsoever will take the trouble to search
for what is required. Beauty and symmetry of
form and character are as well understood now as
they were two thousand years ago; the province of
the sculptor is to represent these qualities under the
various aspects associated with the subject he selects.

All minds cannot comprehend the true and the
beautiful in Art, for all are not equally favoured
with the light of knowledge; but the cases are rare,
indeed, where Art affords no enjoyment. There is a
class both of pictorial and of sculptured works which
commend themselves only to the few; there is
another class that interests the multitude as well as the
few, because from its nature all can understand it:
to this, in sculpture, belongs Mr. Durham's group
of 'Paul and Virginia;' it is the parting scene,
which may be told in a few brief words, and they
are necessary to comprehend the sculptor's intention.
Paul had been excluded from the house of Virginia's
mother, Madame de la Tour, for several days; he
knew not the reason, though he had certain
misgivings from a few words accidentally let fall by the
priest; and when, on the last evening he and the
young girl ever met,—he saw her once again, but
that was when she lay a lifeless corpse upon the
wreck,—her new dress, as he said, confirmed his
thoughts that she was about to leave him. The
interview that evening was a long one: Virginia
had been enjoined by her mother not to let Paul
know of her intended departure; his
importunity, however, was so great, that at last,
turning her head aside, she said, with tears—" My
confessor tells me it is God's will that I should
go—for your sake, Paul, as well as mine." Paul,
still holding her in his arms, replied, "But can you
go, and leave me here? Why, I could die for you;
we have had one cradle only, and one home; eat and
prayed together; been nurtured upon the same kind
knees; oh ! where will you ever find another brother
like me?"

No one can look at these two figures without at
once comprehending their meaning, though the
association with the characters of the charming little
tale may not be so immediately recognisable: and
hence the appeal they directly make to the
commonest understanding. But as a work of Art, the
merits of the group lie in the simple, earnest
expression of the youthful pair; an expression as evident
in their attitudes as in their faces. The meek, but
not quite willing, resignation of the one, and the
remonstrances of the other, are unequivocally
pronounced: the scene is felt to be one of parting. A
subject of this class more poetically yet naturally
rendered we have rarely seen. It is graceful, too,
in design, and perfect in the modelling of the human
figure.

Whatever exception may be taken to sculptured
works of this class by those who can see nothing
worthy of admiration which is not derived from the
antique, they are yet of a kind that is most popular
among us. The naturalistic school, under whatever
type it is exhibited, is certain to find favour where
the ideal makes no impression, unless it is closely
allied with the former.

This group was exhibited at the Royal Academy
last year: it attracted, as it well deserved to do,
marked attention from the visitors of the sculpture-
room. [348]

Bibliography

“.” Art Journal (1860): 238. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 10 April 2014.